This invention relates generally to the treatment of nasal hemorrhages or nose bleeds, and more particularly to a kit and apparatus for providing hemostatic pressure to the various areas of the nasal cavity which commonly hemorrhage.
Nasal hemorrhaging which requires packing of the nose is a common phenomenon since branches of several major arteries are located quite close to the surfaces of the nasal septum and other areas of the nasal cavity. One of the more common methods of arresting such bleeding is to chemically cauterize the area of the vascular plexus and then insert absorbent packing materials such as gauze or cotton into the nasal cavity.
As in most types of bleeding, the direct application of pressure to the bleeding area in various forms has been very successful. One method of achieving this pressure has been through the use of inflatable devices such as Sandmark U.S. Pat. No. 1,051,850 and Payton U.S. Pat. No. 4,338,941.
Another method of applying pressure to the bleeding vessels is the use of a spring-type wire clip as taught by Kern U.S. Pat. No. 4,457,756, wherein spring pressure is applied to a packing placed just inside the nostrils to handle an anterior hemorrhage. A large percentage of all nose bleeds in the order of 90%, occur within the location of the vascular plexus which is located in the forward areas of the nasal cavity on the nasal septum or nasal partition. The various networks of arteries, minute blood vessels and capillaries in this area are the most common source of nose bleeds or nasal hemorrhages.
There are various home remedies for simple nose bleeds such as cold compresses to the neck, manually compressing the nostrils along with various other techniques, none of which are particularly effective since the actual site of the bleeding is within the nasal cavity.
Nose bleeds in this forward area of the vascular plexus commonly referred to as the Kiesselbach plexus, are relatively easy to treat by a non-physician because of their ready accessibility and the bleeding area can be visually ascertained. Nasal hemorrhaging further back in the nasal cavity presents more difficult problems which the laymen cannot treat since the source of the bleeding is difficult to ascertain and difficult to properly pack or apply pressure thereto.
Applying pressure to hemorrhaging vessels through the use of an expandable sponge through wetting was taught by Ryan U.S. Pat. No. 1,732,697. This patent also taught the use of a lubricant on the sponge to assist in insertion.
Various forms of vasoconstrictive agents have been used over the years such as taught in Kern, mentioned above, by placing the agents on absorbent pads spring-biased against the bleeding vessels.
More recent expandable sponge designs were taught by Doyle in U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,030,504 and 4,646,739. The '504 Doyle patent requires rather precise positions to achieve its FIG. 1 position and therefore its claim of use by an untrained medical person is questioned. The '739 Doyle patent is supposedly usable by non-medically trained individuals, however, it has never been sold over the counter for laymen use.
On the market today there are a variety of expandable sponge nasal tampons available, however, their use is strictly limited to physicians and special equipment is required for insertion.
While certain of the above-mentioned patents are described as first-aid or home-use applications, there currently is no home-use product on the market which is effective in controlling nose bleeds.